Music and Madness
by MaplePucks
Summary: While leaving Burger King, Marty hears a strange noise coming from the decrepit garage in the parking lot. He goes to investigate and finds a man who seems to be living there. The two strike up a conversation about music and science, the start of an interesting friendship. How Marty met Doc...


**This is my version of how these two met! I hope you guys enjoy! **

**BTW: Up until mid 1983 Burger King exclusively sold the soft drink Coke. However, they switched contracts to the Pepsi Company in 1983. Thus, our Pepsi-loving teen can suck the stuff down without fear of being inaccurate! (yes, I did actually do my homework for that brief little snip-it)**

**Please read and review! I LOVE reviews!**

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"Yea, yea Mom I know! Be home by 7pm!" Marty almost yelled into the grimy payphone receiver. His worried mother was on the other end, pestering his ear off. It wasn't like he was kid anymore, he was 15 now and capable of at least going to Burger King by himself to get some dinner. Still, he thought, it was better to humor her and go with it, then to argue and make her mad.

"And don't you dare ride that death board on the street!" she said forcefully. He looked down and flicked the wheel of his "death board" making it spin. Marty grinned mischievously to himself.

"Right, got it! Listen, gotta go Mom!" he called into the phone, his mother still yelling as he hung up. He would most likely be paying for that tiny bit of rebellion later but that would be ok, he could suffer through some her nagging for now. He waved to his friends and they entered the Burger King.

Roughly an hour later, Marty exited the restaurant feeling well fed. He once again waved, this time a goodbye, to his friends. He slurped down the remains of his Pepsi, tossed it into the trash then tossed his skateboard on the ground. He was just about to hop on it when he heard a strange sound. Marty whipped his head in all directions looking for the source, he almost thought it sounded like a dying cat. He hoped a car didn't just hit one, but as he listened to it, he realized it had a strange melodic twinge to it. He decided he had to know where and what the noise was. He listened closely for a few moments and realized it was coming from the decrypted garage beside the parking lot.

He rolled over to the gate, lifted the rusty handle and carefully slide past. He proceeded very cautiously, not entirely sure what he was going to find around the corner. Perhaps it was a dying cat or maybe even something larger. Either way, he would prefer not to be attacked. As he moved around the building the sound was getting louder and clearer, but it was still difficult to place. Marty came to a door in the back and didn't even bother knocking. He turned the handle and it swung open.

He nearly dropped his skateboard in surprise. He didn't think anything was in this old garage, at the most maybe some old promotional material for Burger King, but standing with his back turned to him was a man.

Not only was the man merely in the shed, it looked like he lived there. Marty saw strange assortments of appliances stacked everywhere. There was a makeshift bedroom in the corner, with a rumpled bed, an old beat up dresser and a worn out looking chair. Marty saw an equally worn out looking couch sitting off to the side. Everything in this garage had a manic, almost chaotic feel to it. Marty felt like everything had just been thrown into place, with no real pattern. He shook his head and returned his gaze to the man.

At least he had found the source of the noise, the man was playing the saxophone. Even with his back turned, Marty could tell that the man was very tall and had thinning blond hair that stuck up in all directions. As Marty stared, the man turned around and both of them jumped, the old man nearly dropped his saxophone. For a moment, he stared at Marty, not with anger but with an intense curiosity.

"What are you doing in my house?" he finally asked with no hint of indignation that a normal person would have shown. This man was certainly very strange, Marty thought. He had expected at least some anger for breaking in.

"I just wanted to see what that noise was" Marty said pointing to the saxophone. The man looked down like he didn't remember he was still holding it in his hands, now his expression tuned to vague annoyance.

"Noise? It's called music, this is a tenor saxophone." He said matter-of-factly as if everyone should know what it was automatically. Marty's eyes grew wide with awe.

"One like Clarence Clemons plays?" he asked walking slowly towards it like it was a scared relic. The old man backed away.

"Uh, I suppose so, whoever that may be. On that note, May I ask who you are?" he asked quickly. That brought Marty out of his trance and back to reality. He straighten up slightly.

"I'm Marty McFly," He said shrugging his shoulders, "Who are you?" he added rather rudely.

"I'm Doctor Emmett Lanthrop Brown." He said puffing out his chest with implied importance. Marty snapped his fingers, making Emmett jump.

"You're Crazy Doctor Brown? Everyone in town talks about you all the time!" Marty exclaimed excitedly. Emmett frowned and deflated slightly.

"Crazy? That is not exactly the adjective one would most like to be associated with," he said quietly. Marty ignored him and began walking around without an invitation. Emmett sighed and went to follow him around, placing his saxophone on a hook on the wall.

Marty picked up item after item, examining them closely before putting it down wherever he felt like. He worked his way around the room, this man sure did have the weirdest machines and gadgets. Each object got more weird and unusual. Finally he made his way over to the wall of appliances. They were stacked up against each other and looked like some of them held together with paper clips and rubber bands. Emmett stood back with his arms crossed, waiting for the inevitable question.

"What the hell is all this?" Marty asked pointing to the mass of machines. Emmett walked over to the edge of closet to the bed. He patted the alarm clock affectionately, smiling at Marty.

"This is a Rube Goldberg machine. Genius inventor, I can get my breakfast started and feed Einstein before I even get out of bed!" he said proudly. Marty looked like he was highly confused.

"A…Ru…What?" he stumbled to reply back. Emmett stared back at him slightly appalled at the young teen.

"What are they teaching you children in school? Here, watch this!" he said. He switched on the alarm and Marty looked on with wonder as he watched the T.V turn on. Perfectly toasted bread popped up from the toaster and a can opener slowly whirled around the top of a dog food can. Finally a robot arm swung out and flipped the sloppy mess into a bowl on the floor. All without having to lift a finger to do anything. Marty turned back to look at Emmett, his eyes wide again with excitement.

"That was heavy!" He exclaimed happily. He swung around to examine the room again to see if there was anything else like it. Although he didn't see another machine, he eyes did fall upon a gigantic amplifier sitting in the middle of the room. How did he not see that before? He ran over and began messing with all the knobs. Emmett followed but didn't bother to tell him to stop. He was enjoying having company for once, even if it was an obnoxious teenager with manner issues.

"You like this?" he asked the teen. His face was lit up with the biggest grin the scientist had ever seen on anyone.

"Hell yea! This is the biggest amp I have ever seen!" He exclaimed, "But you need to adjust your knobs a bit, here if you set this like this and this one this way and that over there like so" he mumbled almost incoherently twirling all the dials in wild directions.

"What happens?" Emmett asked nervously, the kid didn't even know what his saxophone was, how was he supposed to know who to work an amp?

"You'll get this awesome thing called feedback!" Marty exclaimed proudly. Emmett stared back at him much like Marty had stared at the mention of the Rube Goldberg machine.

"I thought feedback was a bad thing?" he asked. Marty shook his head and dug into his pockets looking for something frantically. He finally pulled out a small piece of plastic shaped like a triangle. He held it up confidently so Emmett could see it.

"Not when you're playing the guitar! It's amazing, I've been playing for about 5 years now," he said. He looked around again, "You don't have one do you?" he asked eagerly. Emmett shook his head.

"I'm afraid I don't" he said. Marty continued to smile anyway.

"That's fine, I'll just bring mine tomorrow and show you." He said nonchalantly. Emmett's eyes grew wide this time with surprise.

"Tomorrow? You would come-" he began but was interrupted by a cacophony of chiming clocks. They were all signaling the arrival of the 7 o'clock hour. Marty' s eyes shot down to his own watch and the color seemed to drain from his face. Emmett became slightly concerned.

"Damn, I'm late." Marty said quietly. The man wasn't sure what was going on but he wasn't quite ready for the sudden burst of movement from the teen. He ran towards the door as fast as he could, pausing just for a moment.

"See ya tomorrow Doc!" He called as he ran out. Emmett heard the wheels of the skateboard hit the pavement and fade away.

He stood there for a moment trying to collect his thoughts. That kid had been very strange, most people in town shyed away from the "Crazy" scientist, not even bothering to give him the time of day. Sometimes it bothered him, but he was used to being alone so he had learned to live with it. This kid however, he had just walked right in, no hesitation. He said he would be back, and even though Emmett was uncertain how this turn events would work out, he was honestly hoping he would come back. He walked over and reset his Rube Goldberg machine.

"Doc," he repeated quietly. "I like the sound of that."


End file.
